Until Someone Called Me Mom
by ThornesFromRoses
Summary: She had never had trouble figuring out what was wrong with her patients. Esme was the best pediatric psychiatrist in the state, possibly the country, but one little girl, one adorable blonde haired little girl, had her completely stumped. What will happen when she discovers the child's secrets? Triggers: Child Abuse
1. Chapter 1: Uncertainty

Until Someone Called Me Mom

" _It was a long, hard, tough day. We managed to just sneak through, it was an unbelievable test match." –Ricky Ponting_

Summary: She had never had trouble figuring out what was wrong with her patients. Esme was the best pediatric psychiatrist in the state, possibly the country, but one little girl, one adorable blonde haired little girl, had her completely stumped. What will happen when she discovers the child's secrets? Triggers: Child Abuse

Opening AN: Well, after writing, and deleting, and starting new stories, and deleting new stories, I finally found one I couldn't stop writing. I don't really know what made me decide to write this, but once I started, I couldn't stop. Full disclaimer, the first four chapters are a bit…boring…but necessary. Once chapter five come into play, they pick up, and get much more interesting. Anyway, without further ado, here's my story.

P.S.: I love reviews. Like I love follows and stuff too but reviews motivate me. Just saying.

Chapter 1: Uncertainty

I took a deep breath, organized my desk a little, and called the secretary to bring my last patient of the day in. It had been such a long day, filled with teary eyed children, furious children, and everything in between. I was just ready to go home, but now I had my newest patient, Rosalie Hale, referred to me by her private school. From the phone call I had with their school psychologist, the Hale family was not really excited about this predicament, but that they mandated it, saying they would not allow Rosalie to attend school if her parents didn't bring her to see me once a week.

All I had been told about my new, five-year-old patient, was that she was difficult. She would never tell anyone how she felt, or really show emotions at all. They said they were concerned, about some of her behaviors, and that she had gone from a happy, bubbly, energetic child to an apathetic, exhausted little girl. They didn't know what to make of anything or how to help her, they just knew something wasn't right. It would be my job to figure out what that something was and how to help her.

My secretary walked in, holding the hand of a tiny, beautiful, little girl with blonde waves cascading down her back. She was so small, even for her age but she looked exhausted, like she hadn't had a good night of sleep in days. She was still in her private school uniform, a green and yellow plaid jumper, a yellow button down shirt, green knee socks, and penny loafers.

"Hi Rosalie, I'm Esme." I greeted the young girl, quickly getting up from my desk and moving to crouch in front of her. "Where's your Mommy or Daddy?" I asked, I always had the parents stay for the first part of the first session.

"Father is at work, Mother dropped me off." She told me with a tone of maturity.

"Her mother said she'll be back in an hour." My secretary told me.

I nodded, reaching my hand for the little girl who dropped my secretary's and took mine. "Alright Sweetheart, let's sit down." I told her as the secretary left and I sat on the loveseat, patting the spot beside me.

Rosalie joined me but instead of sitting like a child, comfortably, she said with perfect posture, legs crossed, hands folded together in her lap. Her posture, her formal names for her parents, it was all strange to me especially for such a young child.

"Rosalie, do you know why you're here?" I asked her.

"Mother and Father said I have to or the school will not let me go back." She answered me almost robotically.

"Do you like school?" I asked her.

"Yes." She agreed.

"Well Rosalie, while we are here, we're just going to talk about things, whatever you want really. We can talk about school and about your family. We can play games or draw pictures. We can do whatever you want. It's supposed to be fun for you." I explained.

"Okay." Rosalie agreed.

"So what do you like about school?" I started easy, trying to get her to answer with something more than a 'yes', 'no', or 'okay'.

She shrugged and looked to her shoes.

"Do you like your teacher?" I asked her with a smile as I pulled the coffee table up closer to us and put two sheets of paper and some crayons in our reach.

"She's nice." Rosalie told me.

"What about coloring? Do you like coloring?" I asked her.

"It's fun." She agreed.

"How about we color while we talk? We can draw pictures of ourselves." I told her.

"Okay." She nodded as she scooted a little closer to the edge of the sofa and picked up a crayon, instantly beginning to draw.

"Do you feel safe when you're at school?" I asked Rosalie as I began drawing as well.

"Yes." She agreed.

"How about when you're at home?" I asked her.

Silence greeted me but I got a nod. It was a little suspicious but she did give me a nod and she wasn't the most communicative child. I would make a note of it in her file though.

"What's your most favorite thing to do?" I asked the little one.

She shrugged her shoulders as she continued drawing.

"Do you like playing outside?" I offered.

"Mother says playing outdoors is not meant for ladies." The child answered in a monotone voice, her focus never leaving her picture.

"Well, what do you like doing inside? I really like to read; do you know how to read yet?" I asked her softly.

"I'm learning." She told me.

The rest of the appointment went much like the beginning, me not getting much information from the little girl, and her shutting down anytime I got too personal. Her mother showed up to pick her up, barely gave me the time of day, and then left with Rosalie.

Her picture was a bit concerning. There were lots of dark colors, not many happy ones, and the girl in the picture didn't wear a smile. It wasn't a frown, just a straight face. No emotions on her picture, none at all.

Something wasn't right. I needed to figure out what was wrong with this little girl. The question now was, how. How did I figure out what was wrong?

I made my way to my brother's office. I needed to bounce some ideas off of him. He always helped me straighten out my thoughts. I knocked quickly and heard him call for me to come in, so I quickly opened the door.

"Hey, I need your brain." I told him.

He chuckled. "You've always been jealous of my brain."

"El…this is serious." I sighed.

"Uh oh, okay, sit down and tell me what's wrong." He gestured towards a chair across from him. I quickly took a seat, crossed my legs, and buried my head in my hands. "Long day?" He asked.

"Unbelievably long day." I agreed. "My last patient…was a lot more challenging than I would have expected."

"What do you mean?" He asked as he popped a chocolate in his mouth, offering me one which I shook my head to. Not even chocolate would make this day better.

"Five-year-old female, though she's very small for her age. She was referred to me by her school. They were worried about her and no one there could pinpoint what was going on." I told him as I shook my head. "I don't blame them honestly."

"Difficult patient?" He offered.

"Trying to get information from her is like pulling teeth. She won't say much. She's very formal, very distant. She uses terms like "mother" and "father" and practically shuts down with any question I ask her. She wouldn't even answer the icebreaker questions. She wouldn't even tell me what she likes to do." I sighed.

"What are you thinking?" My brother asked me.

I sighed. "I have no idea. It was like I sat and stared at her the whole time. I need her to be more open with me if I want to have any hope of figuring out what's off about her."

"You're worried." He pointed out.

"Very." I agreed.

"Well, think on it some, but not too much. Not to the point where it overcomes you. I'm sure you'll figure it out. The formal words, that is strange for a child that age." He told me. "So is the distance. Someone has trained her well."

"Trained?" I offered, scrunching up my eyebrows.

"You've seen it before; the distance children have from their parents due to certain things." He shrugged.

"You're thinking abuse?" I asked him.

"It's got to be in the back of your mind." He simply nodded.

"Well, it is in the back of my mind, but I need to figure out how to break that training if I want her to admit to being abused. If it's physical, the cover it very well. Not a mark on her visible skin." I frowned, thinking back to the little girl.

"You're one of the best. I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of this." He offered a supportive smile. "Go home to Carlisle, do something fun so you can stop thinking about this, and don't worry about it until tomorrow."

I smiled at my bossy brother, always telling me what to do. "I'll do my best."

I took Eleazar's advice, and I made my way back to my office, packed up my things, and finally headed home. I frowned when I got there and Carlisle's car wasn't in the garage yet. He was supposed to get off early today. Him not being here meant that something had come up, a big trauma or something, and there was no telling when he would actually be home.

So I made my way to our room, and to my walk-in-closet. I changed out of my work clothes and into something much more comfortable, a pair of jeans and a lightweight sweater, and headed to the kitchen to get a head start on dinner.

I decided to fix him some British comfort food. My husband would never get over his obsession with the food he grew up on, and after all these years, I had finally learned how to perfect some of his favorite dishes. Tonight I decided on bangers and mash with some snap peas, cauliflower cheese, and bread and butter pudding for desert.

As I cooked, I couldn't help but think about poor Rosalie, trying to piece symptoms together, figure out what was left unspoken, but I became frustrated as I came to the same conclusion I had earlier; I had no idea.

Right as I was pulling the food out of the oven, the garage door open, and I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. Carlisle was home.

"Honey, I'm home!" Carlisle called making me snort a laugh.

He did this everyday he got home after me, and it never failed to make me smile. "In the kitchen!" I called as I put the dishes on the island.

"It smells wonderful My Love." He told me as he pecked my cheek. "Bangers and mash?"

I smiled as he pulled out his seldom used British accent. "How was your day?" I asked.

"Fairly slow until the end of the day. We had a much too small eleven-year-old to be riding in the front seat involved in a car crash. The airbag deployed and caused a fracture of his C3. He'll most likely be paralyzed for life and on a ventilator." He frowned.

"That must have been a hard case." I told him softly as I held his hand.

"It certainly wasn't the highlight of my day." He agreed. "What about your day?"

"Exceptionally long." I sighed.

"Tough cases?" He asked.

"One exceptionally tough one. Mostly, it's tough because I simply can't figure out what is bothering my new patient. She's only five, and very distant. I just don't know; I have a bad feeling." I admitted.

"Well, trust your instincts." He told me. "Are you thinking abuse?"

"Possibly. Eleazar seems to think so. In his words "she's been trained well" when it comes to speaking." I frowned.

We continued speaking of Rosalie for a little while longer and then we got to eating dinner, and talking about our weekend plans. We had decided that we would go on a long weekend, so Thursday until Monday, to our cabin in Alaska to escape from the world. We did this occasionally, and always enjoyed our time spent there.

After dinner, we got everything cleaned up, got showered and in pajamas, and then curled up together on the couch, flipping the TV on to watch _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ , which was on Freeform. We may be adults, but we still appreciated Harry Potter and Disney Movies. In fact, if anyone saw our DVD collection, they would probably assume we had children, but truly, we were just overgrown kids ourselves.

After the movie, around 10:00PM, we were both exhausted, and decided to just go to sleep. I was glad to have had a relaxing evening with my husband after such a stressful day.


	2. Chapter 2: Puzzle Pieces

Until Someone Called Me Mom

" _Sometimes it's hard to find all the pieces of the puzzle, but when you finally connect all the pieces, you realize the reason you worked so hard to find their place in part of the big picture." –Victoria Orsingher_

Summary: She had never had trouble figuring out what was wrong with her patients. Esme was the best pediatric psychiatrist in the state, possibly the country, but one little girl, one adorable blonde haired little girl, had her completely stumped. What will happen when she discovers the child's secrets? Triggers: Child Abuse

AN: Thanks for the reviews guys! 5 on my first chapter of my very first story is more than I could hope for. I'm updating today but word of caution, don't get used to it. I'm a very busy college student double majoring in nursing and psychology so I rarely have free time. Anyway, let me know how you like this chapter. Review, follow, favorite, send shout outs in your story, PM me, whatever. I love and value the opinions of others.

Chapter 2: Puzzle Pieces

When we arrived at our cabin, I was finally able to breathe again. Our housekeeper that periodically checked up on the cabin, and kept it from collecting dust, had just cleaned the place and stocked our fridge, so our one job was really to just relax.

It was fairly cool outside, around 40 degrees which was cooler than most September days in Juneau, but it was a welcome change. Seattle wasn't exactly hot, it had been in the sixties lately, but I had always liked for it to be cooler.

"I think we should update the kitchen here." I told my husband as I checked the casserole for the third time, fifteen minutes after it should have finished cooking, only to find it not ready.

"New appliances?" He asked.

"At least a new oven." I agreed. "Especially if we host any family here over the holidays."

"We'll look into it." He assured me.

"Do you still want to go hiking tomorrow?" I asked him as I put the dish back in the oven. Juneau had some of my favorite hiking trails, my favorite leading to a glacier.

"Yes, of course." He agreed.

The rest of the evening came and went, and I found myself up bright and early, in my hiking gear, and riding in the car we kept at the cabin in Alaska. We hiked for hours that day, letting the peacefulness of nature clear our minds. We were always both able to forget about work for once when we came to Alaska, and we had both been fairly stressed, so it was a welcome change to just sit and look at the beauty around us.

Saturday was more of a lazy day. It was very rainy, so we stayed inside the cabin and read. I was working on a wonderful book called _Redeeming Love_ , Carlisle was working on _The Shack_. Both were Christian fiction, both books that had been referred to us in our church small groups. We may not be the most diligent when it came to church, but we did try and go once or twice a month. My husband was raised in a devout Christian home, and enjoyed going to church. I was less solid in my faith. There was a time, that like my husband, I believed God worked miracles, and that God was not the creator of bad things. My career made me more and more pessimistic. When you hear of the terrible things that happen to innocent children day-in and day-out, you tend to have your doubts in a loving God. I would go to church though, and try and believe. My husband's faith was the most comfort he had. His faith offered him more comfort than even I could. I yearned for that at times.

Sunday, we did one of my absolute favorite things and went up to the dog camp. I got to hold all these puppies and fell in love. I looked at my husband with pleading eyes, and after our little adventure, we found ourselves at the animal shelter.

"You two are in luck." The woman told us. "We recently got four different litters of puppies in. One are part wolf, mostly husky, the others are full blood Siberian husky, the next group are full blood Australian shepherds, and the final are full blood malamute."

"I think we should stick to the ones that are not wo…" My husband began but I cut him off.

"I'd like to see the part wolf, mostly husky litter." I smiled.

"Of course you would." Carlisle chuckled.

As it happened, I didn't fall completely in love with a part wolf, mostly husky puppy. I did fall in love with two puppies, one Siberian husky, one Australian shepherd though and as I held them up to my husband, wide-eyed, he simply smiled. "Can we take them both?" I asked.

"It's a good thing we used American Airlines this time." My husband chuckled. "We'll pay a fee but we can get them both home."

"So that's a yes?" I asked happily as he took one of the puppies, the Australian shepherd, from me and held her in his arms.

"Let's get all the paperwork filled out." The woman told us with a smile as she led us to an office. "What do you think you're going to name them?"

"It's up to you." My husband told me.

"Well the one you have looks like Belle, from _Beauty and the Beast_." I told him. "I think the one I'm holding should be Elsa, given her winter breed."

"So Belle and Elsa?" The woman confirmed.

I nodded and let the puppy nibble on my fingers as we were handed tons of papers and once we were finally finished, we headed to one of the only pet stores, getting carriers that would double as crates, collars, food, and some puppy shampoo so we could bathe them. Then, we finally took them back to the cabin. They made for a very interesting night. Being puppies, we expected having to get up and take them out, but my those two had energy. They just wanted to play. We were officially puppy parents.

Before I knew it, a week had passed, my long weekend with my husband was over, and now, I was back at work, waiting on my last patient of the day, Rosalie. We had put Belle and Elsa in puppy camp so we wouldn't have to worry about them being alone for so long, and I was going to go pick them up after my last appointment.

I looked over my scrambled notes from the last session I had with Rosalie, trying to make sense of anything I had written, but not coming to any conclusions. I would need to get her to talk to me more today, or push the art therapy or play therapy, and figure something out. Anything.

"Hi Sweetheart." I greeted the adorable little girl as the secretary walked her in.

"Hello Dr. Cullen." She greeted me softly as she stepped inside.

"Let's sit on the floor today by the art table, alright?" I offered as I moved from my desk to the floor on one of the pillows around the square table.

The table was filled with containers of crayons, colored pencils, markers, regular pencils, pens, stencils, paper, and everything else arty. Rosalie took the seat to my right, watching me carefully as I reached for the stack of papers.

"Today, I was thinking we could draw pictures of our family." I told her with a small smile.

"What should I draw?" She asked me curiously.

"How about a picture of your house and everyone who lives in it with you?" I offered.

"Okay." She agreed.

I picked up a crayon and began drawing my own picture, keeping an eye on Rosalie. "Did you have fun at school today?" I asked.

"No." She frowned.

"Why not?" I asked softly.

"The other kids make fun of me." She told me.

She was certainly more talkative today. That was a good sign. Maybe I was getting through to her, to some extent.

"They make fun of you?" I asked her softly. "What do they say?"

"They tell me I'm little. They say my mom and dad don't love me." She whispered.

"It hurts your feelings when they say this?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes."

"Why does it hurt your feelings so much? Is it because you don't like when people are mean to your mommy and daddy?" I offered.

"No." She disagreed. "It's because they're right."

Those four words broke my heart. What did she mean by that? Even abusive parents showed love to their children at times. Usually, they made their children feel loved just enough the children wanted to stay with them. Stockholm syndrome was often present.

"You don't think that your mommy and daddy love you?" I asked gently.

"They don't." She shrugged.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"They tell me." She told me as she continued drawing.

"What do they say?" I asked softly.

"They say if I was better they would love me but that I'm a bad girl so they can't love me. They say bad girls don't get to be loved." She sighed.

And that would mark the last of the child speaking to me. The rest of the appointment, I asked questions, she would remain silent as she drew her picture. I thought I was getting somewhere today, but I only got four or five middle pieces to a huge puzzle that wouldn't make sense without more information.

When her time was up, I walked her out. I wanted to see her interact with her mother. It wasn't her mother though, and I doubted it was her father either seeing as this man looked nothing like the child. "Rosalie, who's taking you home today?" I asked.

"This is our butler, Leonardo." She told me.

"It's nice to meet you Dr. Cullen. Rosalie's parents got held up at work. I offered to come get her and take her to her piano lessons." The man spoke in a thick accent as he shook my head. I would guess it was Guatemalan.

"I'll see you next week Sweetheart." I told the child as her butler took her backpack.

My eyes followed them the whole way out the door. Something wasn't right, and I found myself even more confused after this session than the first. She had said more, and I thought I was going to get somewhere, and she had shut down.

As I made my way back to my office, I thought of my last question I had asked her and her response, trying to figure out any triggers.

" _What do they say?" I asked softly._

" _They say if I was better they would love me but that I'm a bad girl so they can't love me. They say bad girls don't get to be loved." She sighed_.

Obviously the whole question could have triggered her and her response probably brought back bad memories, but the earlier questions and answers could have triggered her as well. What was it about that specific statement that had her go back to her usual silent state?

I looked over the drawing again. It was relatively normal, to an extent. There was a very large house drawn in the middle. On one side of the house, there was a drawing of a little girl, Rosalie had scribbled her own name above it. To her right, there was a drawing of the butler, to the left, a heavyset woman with Gloria scribbled. On the other side of the house, she had drawn her mother and her father, and a man with the name "Royce" scribbled above it.

The drawing had a few red flags though. First of all, the house didn't have any doors and just a few windows, and it was raining in the picture, no sun shine in the corner like most. The faces on the people were not happy, and the color scheme was very dark. Black, red, and purple. It was a big red flag of things going on in this child's life, but I didn't know what, and didn't have much to go off of to make a report.

After one more appointment with one of my anorexic patients, I picked up my puppies and headed home, my mind never leaving sweet Rosalie.

The weeks and sessions just kept going like this. Tiny hints, not anything to prove that mistreatment of the child was happening. I still had yet to meet her parents, even after asking that they come meet with me and discuss their child. It was always Leonardo, the butler, or Gloria, the housekeeper, that picked her up. Those two seemed to care about Rosalie a great deal, and for that I was happy. That meant she was at least loved by someone. This little girl was really taking a toll on me. I am usually pretty good at my job. I never have this much trouble pinpointing what is going on with my patients. So at the sixth week, I decided to be more straightforward, and take a different approach and hope for the best.

I pulled out all of the drawings Rosalie had created, the first one of herself, the second of her house, the third of her current mood, the fourth of her friends, and the one of what she wanted to be when she grew up and laid them out on the table. When Rosalie got to my office, her eyes landed on her drawings and she had a curious expression cross her face.

"Hey Sweetheart, come sit with me." I told her as I patted the spot beside me.

She instantly did as I said and looked to me with exhausted little eyes. She looked like she was in desperate need of a nap.

"I was hoping you could talk to me about these drawings." I told my young patient.

"How?" She asked.

"Hmm, we could take turns." I told her as I glanced to my own stack of papers. "I can tell you about one of my drawings, and then you can tell me about one of yours."

"Okay." She agreed.

I picked up the first one I wanted to talk about. The one of my house and family. "Well, this right here is my house, and that's me. I drew my dress in yellow because yellow is a very happy color. That's my husband Carlisle. We are both smiling because we like being with each other. We have more family, but they don't live with us so it's just the two of us."

Rosalie nodded and picked up her drawing of her family. "That's my house." She pointed to the door-less structure. "That's Leonardo, our butler, and Gloria, our housekeeper. They're really nice to me. That's me. Um, that's Father, Mother, and Royce."

"Who's Royce?" I asked.

"I don't want to talk about him." She whimpered.

"It's alright Darling, you don't have to." I told her.

We kept discussing her pictures, but she would never fully answer me on the important questions. Not why there wasn't a door, not why everyone was angry, not why her mood was sad in the picture she drew, nothing. I was hoping for the conversation to get deeper, but it never did. She never let her guard down.

So after yet another frustrating appointment, I made my way home. Carlisle had cooked dinner tonight, my favorite thing he knew how to do, Shepherd's Pie. I embraced him, holding onto him just a hair too long for him to think nothing was wrong, and he pulled away.

"The mystery girl again?" He asked.

I wasn't allowed to give out patient names, so that's what my husband had come to call her. Mystery Girl because that's what she was, a mystery.

"I tried having her explain the drawings to me, and got no helpful information." I sighed. "I'm getting worried, what if I don't figure this out?"

"I'm sure you will." He told me as he held me in his arms.

"I usually have more insight by now. It's been six weeks Carlisle, and I still have no idea how to help her." I whimpered.

"Everything is going to be alright." He promised me.

After some good consoling from my husband, cuddling from my puppies, and a hot chocolate, we sat down to eat, and then watched _Beauty and the Beast_ to go to bed. The whole night though, my mind stayed on Rosalie.


	3. Chapter 3: Startling Revelations

Until Someone Called Me Mom

" _They've promised that dreams can come true- but forget to mention that nightmares are dreams, too." –Oscar Wilde_

Summary: She had never had trouble figuring out what was wrong with her patients. Esme was the best pediatric psychiatrist in the state, possibly the country, but one little girl, one adorable blonde haired little girl, had her completely stumped. What will happen when she discovers the child's secrets? Triggers: Child Abuse

AN: Sorry this took so long guys, we've been having major family crises that have just been back-to-back and I didn't have time to post this until…well…now…so read, review, shoot me a PM, do whatever you wish.

Chapter 3: Startling Revelations

The next six weeks went quite a bit like the first five. My daily routine didn't change much. I would drop the puppies off at daycare, go to work, treat my patients, and once a week I would try and decipher little Rosalie before going to pick up Belle and Elsa.

On week seven, I decided to be even more blunt with the child. I would ask her direct questions about her home life. Simple yes and no questions. She almost always answered yes/no questions for me. I braced myself when Rosalie's appointment time came around and took a deep breath when she walked into my office with my secretary.

"Hi Sweetheart." I smiled as she came in the room.

"Good afternoon Dr. Cullen." She replied formally.

"Remember Sweetie, you can call me Esme." I told her the same thing I did every week.

She nodded, but didn't correct herself.

"I thought maybe today, we can do something easy. We can just do yes/no questions." I offered with a small smile. "Do you think you can answer me with a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

"Yes." She agreed.

"Alright, let's do something easy first. Did you have a good day today?" I asked her softly.

"No." She admitted.

"Do you want to talk about why it was a bad day?" I asked.

"No." She disagreed.

I wanted to push her on that, but we were doing yes and no questions unless she wanted to talk more. I would stick to that to keep her honest.

"Is your teacher at school nice to you?" I asked.

"Yes." She agreed.

"Do you have any friends at school yet?" I asked.

"No." She frowned.

Again, something I wanted to push, but wouldn't unless she wanted me to. I could push these questions next week if I wanted to, but now wasn't the time.

"Do you want to talk about the kids at school?" I asked.

"No." She disagreed.

"Are your favorite colors still pink and purple?" I asked her, getting away from the personal for a minute.

"Yes." She smiled.

"And do you still like bunnies the very best?" I asked her.

"Yes." She agreed happily.

"Do you like piano lessons?" I asked.

"Yes." She smiled.

"Is your piano teacher nice?" I continued.

"Yes." She agreed.

The session went on and on like this. I would ask her simple questions, if she gave me a concerning answer, ask if she wanted to talk about it, and then not push her. I felt like from this session, from something I hadn't really done before, I learned more about her than I had in any other sessions. I decided with the last few minutes, we could color. She really enjoyed coloring and I wanted her to leave on a happy note.

"Let's draw pictures of bunnies today." I smiled as I put a sheet of paper in front of each of us.

"I don't know how." She admitted.

"I can teach you." I offered.

Rosalie reached for the box of crayons and her little button down shirt slid up her arm. It was dark purple. She didn't notice I had seen the bruise though, or that her arm was exposed, she just looked at me, expecting me to pick up a crayon.

"Rosalie, Sweetheart, can you tell me what happened here?" I gestured to the bruises on her arm that she had just accidentally revealed.

"That's not a yes or no." She frowned.

If it wasn't such a serious situation, I would be hiding a laugh, but it was serious, and she needed to talk to me now. I needed to know why her entire arm was covered in a dark bruise.

"We're going to do normal questions now, not yes or no." I sighed. "What happened to your arm?"

"I fell." She lied. I knew she was lying, the bruise was clearly, partially fingerprints, not from a fall. It was too bruised and swollen to just come from a simple fall.

"Are you sure someone didn't hurt you?" I asked.

She stiffened, going right back to that perfect posture I saw on day one. "I fell."

"You know you can tell me anything, right? No matter if someone told you not to or you think you'll get in trouble. You can tell me anything." I assured her.

"I can?" She asked.

"Yes Darling, you can. I have a very important question for you. I don't want you to worry about getting in trouble or anyone being angry with you. Do you think you can be very honest with me if I ask you an important question?" I asked.

"Okay." She agreed.

"Do you feel safe at home?" I repeated one of the first questions I asked her.

"No." She told me honestly, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"Can you tell me a little about that?" I asked. "What makes you feel unsafe?"

"Mother, Father, and Royce." She all but whispered.

Finally, I was getting somewhere with this child. "What do they do that upsets you?"

"Father hits me a lot, Mother does too but she mostly just holds me down while Father hits me. Royce…Mother and Father let him come to my room at night. He gives them money and he comes to my room. It's worse than what Mother and Father do." She sniffled.

I handed her a tissue and she wiped away her tears, also successfully wiping away foundation, revealing a dark purple bruise. "What does he do Sweetie?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer, but needing to know.

"I don't want to talk about it." She cried. "I know it's bad. Do I have to go back?"

"Back home?" I asked her earning a nod. "Do you want to go back home?"

"No." She whimpered.

"I'm going to do what I can to make you happy so if you don't want to go home, I'll try and make it so you won't have to." I told her. "Do you have other bruises?"

"Yes. Lots." She agreed.

"Does anything hurt?" I asked her softly.

"Father twisted my arm really hard last night and it hurts really bad but so does the cut Mother gave me." She told me.

"Can I see your arm?" I asked softly.

She hesitantly gave me her hand and I pushed her sleeve up, revealing a very, very swollen arm. "Ow." She cried as I gently pushed on her arm.

"Sorry Darling. What about the cut? Where is it?" I asked.

She pushed the skirt of her jumper up, revealing her thigh, where a large gauze bandage was soaked with blood. If she had gotten this last night and it was still bleeding, it wasn't good.

"Alright Sweetie, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to take you to the hospital so they can make sure your ouchies don't hurt as bad, and I'm going to call someone to try and make sure you don't have to go home. Does that sound okay?" I asked.

"Yes." She agreed.

"I'm going to leave the room for one minute. I will be right back. Will you be okay alone for a minute?" I asked softly.

She nodded and I gently wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm very proud of you Darling, that took a lot of courage. I'll be right back." I smiled.

I quickly went to the front desk, motioning for my secretary to come over so no one would overhear us. "What is it?" She asked.

"Cancel the rest of my patients for today. We've got a minor emergency. Also, the appointment is supposed to last another forty-five minutes, but if either of Rosalie Hale's parents arrive, stall. I'm going to take her to the hospital. Call my brother-in-law, Earnest, ask him to please pick up my puppies when he's off work. I also need to contact social services." I sighed.

"Abuse?" My secretary frowned.

"Unfortunately. Bad at that." I sighed.

"I'll call your other patients right now." She offered.

I nodded and knocked on Eleazar's office door. He didn't have a patient right now, and I needed somewhere to make a call. "Come in!" He called.

"I need to borrow your office for privacy purposes. My patient is in mine." I told him.

"Do I need to leave?" He asked.

I shook my head as I closed the door and quickly dialed the number for social services. After a very long menu and pushing multiple numbers, the phone was finally ringing for the correct person. _"Child Protective Services of Seattle, Reporting Office, how may I help you?"_

"My name is Dr. Esme Cullen, I'm a pediatric psychiatrist, and I need to report the abuse of a young child." I told the person, gaining Eleazar's attention, a sympathetic look on his face.

" _Are there physical signs of abuse and has the child said he or she is being abused?"_ The woman asked.

"Yes, there are physical signs and she has told me she is being abused. I actually am going to take her to the children's hospital for treatment, she has some fairly serious, new injuries." I told the woman with a sigh.

" _Do you know what nature the child's abuse is?"_ She asked.

"Physical, sexual, and I'm fairly certain emotional as well." I told her softly.

" _Do you believe the child is in immediate danger?"_ The woman continued.

"Yes. I believe she is in immediate danger. I believe if she is not removed from her home as soon as physically possible, she will be continually abused, worse than usual give that there are going to be allegations up." I sighed.

After a few more questions about Rosalie, where she lived, who her abusers were, where her parents worked, and so on, I was finally able to hang up the phone.

"If you need anything, let me know." My brother told me.

I nodded sadly at him. "I need to get back to her. I'll see you at family dinner tonight."

"Good luck." He told me.

I went back to my room and quickly gathered Rosalie in my arms. She was sobbing, obviously very worried about what was going to happen.

"It's okay Baby, we're just going to go make sure you're okay. I'll be with you the whole time." I assured her as I lifted her in my arms.

So with a little girl clinging to me, I made my way to my car, grateful I had a car seat in the trunk in case my nieces or nephews needed me to drive them. I moved the seat to the back, buckled her in and began the drive to the hospital, glancing in the rearview mirror every so often.

I filled out some paperwork for the registration nurse, and briefly explained the situation. This resulted in me being ushered right back. The nurse led us to an exam room and I lifted Rosalie up on the gurney, watching as her eyes filled with more tears.

"It's going to be alright Darling." I promised her as I ran my hand through her hair.

"I'm scared." She whimpered.

"You're safe here." I told her softly. "I'm going to go right outside for a minute, and this nice nurse is going to stay with you. I'll be right back."

She nodded and I watched the young nurse move closer to the child, beginning to take her vitals. I stepped outside and began searching for whatever attending was working today.

"Esme?" My sister-in-law asked me.

"Carmen." I smiled, realizing she was working today and would be on Rosalie's case. "I have a patient I need to be looked over. An abused patient."

"I'm free, I'll take her case." She told me with a nod. "Your husband and his sister are in surgery but he'll be done soon. Are you going to stay with the child?"

"Yes." I agreed. "She's not very talkative at first but her name is Rosalie and she's five."

"Well, I'll be in soon. Where is she?" Carmen asked.

"Exam four. A nurse was getting her into a gown and I came to find whatever attending was working. I didn't want a resident on this." I explained. "I'll be with her."

Carmen nodded so I headed back to the room. Rosalie was sitting in a pink hospital gown that was so big on her it made her look even smaller than she already was. Her little knees were pulled up to her chest, head resting on them, eyes glazed with tears.

"Rosalie, Darling, it's going to be okay." I comforted the child as I took a seat beside her in a chair near the bed, resting a gentle hand on her back.

"I don't want to do this." She admitted.

"I know you don't Darling, but everything is going to be alright." I promised as I ran my hand through her hair. "You're being so brave for me, you're such a brave little girl."

"I'm going to be in so much trouble." She cried.

"No, no you aren't in trouble." I promised her as I looked over her body well for the first time.

The nurses had cleaned up all the makeup that had been covering her little body and I was shocked by what I saw. Her entire body was different shades of black and blue. The only spots that weren't bruised were her hands, where her knee socks and jumper wouldn't cover, and the majority of her face had been left unbruised as well.

Carmen came in a few moments later and Rosalie instantly reached for me. I took her hands and allowed her to squeeze them. "It's okay Darling, this is Dr. Carmen. She's actually my sister-in-law. That means she's married to my brother. She's very nice and she just wants to make you feel better."

"Hi Baby." Carmen greeted the child softly as she walked closer to us. "My name is Carmen, what's your name?"

"Rosalie." Rosalie told her quietly.

"Rosalie is a very pretty name." Carmen smiled at the little girl. "How old are you Rosalie?"

"Five." Rosalie told her as she held up her hand with five fingers displayed.

Carmen smiled at the child. "You're a big girl then."

I stayed with Rosalie during Carmen's exam and all the tests that were run, and was horrified by every single new discovery. They had no mercy towards that child, it was a miracle she was still alive. Her arm was broken, the cut on her leg had to be sutured, she had multiple broken ribs, quite a few new fractures, she was just broken. I only left when social services required me to leave, so they could question her.

I was questioned too, and Carmen, and by the time I was allowed to go back to her, Rosalie was sleeping peacefully and I didn't want to wake her so I just stood outside, looking in the large glass window at the sleeping child, Carmen right beside me.

"She's a strong little girl. She wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for her strength." My sister-in-law told me softly.

"How did I not catch this sooner?" I asked.

"They were careful." Carmen sighed. "And you told me just a few weeks ago you had a patient who wouldn't say much. Was this that patient?"

"Yes." I admitted.

"I would have missed it too." She told me softly. "Don't beat yourself up too much."

"The holidays are just around the corner. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, she's going to be in the system for all of these. It's obviously better than being abused but she'll be all alone." I sighed.

"They'll find a family for her. She's young, adorable, smart, she'll find parents." My sister-in-law told me.

"Hey, I heard you were here." My husband's voice had me turn around to see him and Carine. "Your patient?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing the side of my head.

"Yes." I sighed as I watched her, sucking her little thumb on her non-casted arm.

"How is she?" Carine asked.

I shook my head. "It's not good."

"That is one tough kid." Carmen agreed with me as she looked to my husband and his twin sister. "Most wouldn't have made it with injuries like she had, or they would have told someone much sooner they were in pain."

"Is this the one you've been so worried about?" Carlisle asked.

I nodded. "Yes, I saw bruising on her arm today, and asked her about it."

"She's so little. How old is she?" Carine asked.

"Five." I told her.

"She looks about three or four." She sighed. "Did they starve the poor child?"

"She's underweight, her blood tests aren't back yet, but I'd say she's malnourished." Carmen nodded as she watched the little girl.

We stood watching her, talking about her, for about an hour before Carlisle dragged me home with him, to get ready for the family dinner Carine and her husband Earnest were holding. I wasn't happy about leaving Rosalie, but did so with the nurse promising she would call if the child needed me for anything.

It was going to be a sleepless night as I worried about my patient, but at least she was safe. I knew she wasn't being beaten as long as she was at the hospital.


	4. Chapter 4: Determination

Until Someone Called Me Mom

" _Rescue someone unwilling to look after himself, and he will cling to you like a dangerous illness." –Mason Cooley_

Summary: She had never had trouble figuring out what was wrong with her patients. Esme was the best pediatric psychiatrist in the state, possibly the country, but one little girl, one adorable blonde haired little girl, had her completely stumped. What will happen when she discovers the child's secrets? Triggers: Child Abuse

AN: Shorter chapter, I know, but I couldn't figure out where I wanted to end this one and pick up on the fifth.

Chapter 4: Determination

We arrived at Carine and Earnest's home at 7:30, right on time for dinner. I saw Eleazar's car already in the driveway, which meant he and Carmen had arrived a bit early, and they were probably waiting on us to start eating.

Carlisle parked the car and we quickly walked inside the house, hearing little feet running. "AUNT ESME! UNCLE CARLISLE!" Little voices rang out.

Soon, I had a five-year-old Eleanor bounding into my arms, and my husband was nearly taken down by four-year-old Edythe, and three-year-old Archer.

"Hi Sweetheart." I smiled as I kissed her cheek.

It had been too long since I had been around happy, healthy children that weren't patients and it felt good to be holding my young niece who was thrilled to see me.

"I missed you!" She told me.

"I missed you too Sweetie." I smiled as I put her down and got hugs from my younger niece and nephew. "Where is everyone?"

"The kitchen. Mommy kicked us out for trying to eat the cookies. Daddy put Belle and Elsa in the den because they were sleepy and he said we were keeping them up." Edythe told me as she took my hand. "Mommy said the cookies will give us tummy aches before dinner."

"Your mommy is right about that. Too many cookies are bad for your tummy." I told her as I tickled her belly.

Edythe erupted into giggles as I picked her up and put her on my hip. "Let's go eat, Uncle Carlisle, the sooner we do, the sooner we can eat cookies." Eleanor told her uncle as she dragged my husband towards the kitchen.

I let Archer take my hand and walked with the younger two children to where the rest of the family was, setting Edythe down and releasing Archer's hand once we were inside.

"Sorry it took us so long." My husband apologized.

"You're right no time!" Carine disagreed with a wave of her hand. "You three, go wash your hands."

"But Mo-mmy." Eleanor dragged out making me have to hide a small laugh.

"No buts Missy, you three go scrub your little hands and make sure you use soap." Carine told her children as she put her hand on her hip.

Carine as a mother was such a change from Carine as the medical student she had been when I met her. She and Carlisle had been so very similar in medical school, and to be honest, I never saw Carine as this type of mother, but she was, and she was a very good mother at that.

"Those little brats." Earnest rolled his eyes as he greeted us. "I got the puppies for you after I finished up at my practice, but we put them in the den because our brats were exhausting them. Anyway, I heard you had a tough day, how are you holding up?" He asked me.

I simply shrugged. "I've had better days. I'm just glad my patient is safe."

"Well, hopefully having some homemade lasagna will help you cheer up." Carine told me.

My nieces and nephew returned from washing their hands and we all took our seats around the dining room table before listening to Eleanor try and recite the prayer she had learned at school about thanking God for the food, which was quite hilarious, and we finally dug in.

"What did you do in kindergarten today Ellie?" Earnest asked his daughter who was eating away at her dinner.

"We learned how to read some more stuff." She told him with a smile. "I can almost read an entire book!"

"Which book?" My husband asked his niece with a smile.

"The Giving Tree." She told him happily. "Can I read it to you before bed?"

She batted those adorable blue eyes that always got her what she wanted with my husband and he nodded. "Of course."

"What about you two?" Carmen looked to Edythe and Archer. "Learn anything new at preschool?"

"I learned to spell my name!" Archer told her excitedly.

"Really?" I asked with a smile. "Spell it for me."

"A-R-C-H-E-R." He told us happily with a proud grin on his face.

"That was very good." Carine praised her son.

"What about you Edy?" I asked my niece. "What did you do today?"

"I had piano lessons." She smiled. "I can play a whole song now."

"Which song?" Eleazar asked.

"Mary Had a Little Lamb. Can I play it for you after dinner?" She asked us all.

"Of course Sweetie, we would love to hear." I assured her.

After dinner, we ate some gelato, and then listened to Edythe's song on the piano, applauding once she finished. We helped with bedtime, Carmen and I went to read to Archer, Eleazar and Carlisle to listen to Eleanor read, and Carine and Earnest to read to Edythe, and after all the kids were soundly sleeping, we headed to the family room.

Carmen was holding Belle, rubbing her little belly, while Carine was holding a squirming Elsa. We laughed as we took our "babies" back.

"Any news about the triplets?" Carine asked my brother and sister-in-law as Earnest poured us all drinks.

My brother and his wife had been trying to adopt triplets from a Russian orphanage for two years now. The triplets are all six, and the adoption agency had been taking an exceedingly long time to file paperwork and finalize everything.

"They're saying we'll hopefully have them by their seventh birthday." Carmen told us. "I just want to have them now."

"Still planning on going to visit over the holidays?" I asked them.

"We're actually hoping to go sooner than that." My brother told me. "We haven't decided on a date yet. We do have a new picture."

My sister-in-law pulled out her phone, going through it before passing it around. I smiled as I saw the three gorgeous little blonde girls, Tanya, Kate, and Irina, smiling in the photograph. They looked so different from the very first photo I had ever seen of them, so much older, and I felt so bad that it was taking this long to get my nieces home.

"They're beautiful." I told my brother and sister-in-law.

"You'll have to be fighting boys off of them in no time." Carine assured them.

We continued speaking for a little while before my phone rang. I saw the hospital's phone number and quickly answered. "Dr. Cullen." I spoke.

"Dr. Cullen, this is Megan. I'm Rosalie's nurse for the night. We were hoping you could come down here if it's not too much trouble. She's very agitated, we can't get her to calm down, and we were going to sedate her but she's crawled underneath the bed and won't come out. She's just far enough we can't get to her." She sighed.

"Of course. I'll be right there." I agreed.

"Thank you, we've moved her up to a normal room, it's room 342." She told me.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." I told her before hanging up the phone.

"Everything okay?" My husband asked me.

"I need to get to the hospital." I told them.

"Is it Rosalie?" Carmen asked me.

I nodded. "She's apparently underneath her bed and won't come out and very upset." I sighed.

"Let's go." My husband told me.

"Leave the puppies with us, we can watch them for the night. You two head to the hospital. We'll see you both soon." Carine told us.

"Good luck." My brother told me.

We quickly embraced everyone before leaving, and I practically forced Carlisle to speed the entire way there, running once I got inside the hospital.

"Where is she?" I asked the nurse inside the room Rosalie was supposed to be in.

"Under there." Megan sighed, pointing towards the bed.

My husband had come in the room and watched as I crawled on the floor to get to the little girl. I laid on the ground and got a good look at her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, her knees were pulled tight against her chest, blood was dripping down her thigh making me think her stitches were ripped.

"Rosalie, it's okay Baby." I told her.

I expected to have to coax her from under the bed, but Rosalie shocked me by instantly climbing out from under the bed and wrapping her little arms around me.

"It's okay Darling, you're safe." I promised as she sobbed in my chest. "We're going to fix your leg again though, you're bleeding."

"I'm sorry." She squeaked.

"It's okay Baby, you're okay." I promised her. "My husband is a doctor; he's going to help me fix your leg okay?"

She nodded but clung to me nervously as Carlisle approached us. "Hi Princess." He greeted quietly, making sure he didn't make any sudden movements that could frighten her.

"Hi." She whimpered.

My husband quickly re-sutured Rosalie's thigh, and then had the nurse give her some pain medication so she would fall asleep. I held her as she slept for a few moments, rubbing her back, making sure she was soothed before I finally left the room.

I wanted that child. There were no other words. I wanted her to be loved, to be safe. I would only know she was loved and safe if she was with me. I stepped into the hall and joined my husband by the window that looked into Rosalie's room. He wrapped an arm around me as he watched her.

"You want this little girl to come home with us, don't you?" My husband asked me softly, reading my mind.

I nodded. "I do. You will too, once you get to know her. Carlisle she's so…small. She needs someone to love her, to care for her. She needs to be safe. She needs to learn to trust people. She needs us, and we need her."

"If this is what you want, I'll do everything I can to make it happen. We've wanted a child for a long time. We can give her a home; she can give us a child. Are you sure you want this?" He asked.

"Absolutely." I agreed.


	5. Chapter 5: Decisions

Until Someone Called Me Mom

" _A daughter is one of the most beautiful gifts this world has to give." –Laurel Atherton_

Summary: She had never had trouble figuring out what was wrong with her patients. Esme was the best pediatric psychiatrist in the state, possibly the country, but one little girl, one adorable blonde haired little girl, had her completely stumped. What will happen when she discovers the child's secrets? Triggers: Child Abuse

AN: Sorry I know this is late! I had fall break and was visiting family and just didn't get around to posting. Anyway, not one of my best chapters. I wrote this a while back and I happened to write it on the day one of my very best friends was in a car accident and killed by a drunk driver so I was a little scatter brained. Any way, here it is.

PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 5: Decisions

I never left Rosalie's side that night. Someone needed to be there for her. She needed an advocate. She also, desperately, needed a comforter, and I was the only person so far she had found comfort in. I actually had my secretary cancel my patients for the week. I needed to be with this child, I needed to make sure I got this child to be able to come home with me.

I woke before Rosalie, sitting up from my plastic chair, only to be greeted by Carine coming in the room. "I brought breakfast." She whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. "For you and for her. That child needs a good breakfast, not hospital food."

"Thank you." I told her softly as she placed the food down on the table beside me.

"How is she?" She asked very quietly as she picked up Rosalie's chart.

"She hasn't woken since last night. I think sleep deprivation on top of the events of the day caused her to just be utterly exhausted." I admitted as I glanced to the little girl.

"She's underweight, probably malnourished." Carine sighed. "Are they going to have to surgically fix that arm?"

"They're going to try six weeks in a cast before making a decision." I told her. "Which I slightly disagree with, but then again, ortho isn't anywhere close to my specialty."

"No, I agree with you as well. Then again, ortho isn't mine either, but if it heals improperly, I would think that would be a more challenging procedure." Carine sighed.

"That's what I was thinking too but I guess they know best." I sighed.

"Her iron level is exceptionally low, all of her vitamin levels as well, so she'll need to be started on multivitamins." Carine told me.

"She's a resilient little girl." I sighed.

"Yes she is. Most kids in her condition, well they wouldn't have made it as long without intervention. She had to be in so much pain every single day. I'm guessing she never even limped or winced?" She offered.

"No, not around me." I agreed. "Do you know where Carlisle is? I thought he was supposed to be working today."

"He said he was going to be a little bit late and something about a mall." She told me with a confused expression. "I honestly didn't think he would ever go to the mall without you forcing him to but he said he needed to get something."

There was a soft knock on the door and Megan poked her head in. "I just came to say goodbye before shift change. Ryan is her nurse today; he should be in soon. He had to switch an IV out on a difficult patient first."

"Thank you for taking care of her last night." I told the nurse with a smile.

"I'll be her nurse again tonight and the next three as well, Ryan will be the same for the days." She informed me.

After Megan left, Carine had to go to rounds, so I began getting the food out. Carine had gone to Portage Bay Café, and brought us both pancakes and fresh fruit. Right as I finished putting all the food on the table, Rosalie woke up.

"Good morning Darling." I greeted her softly.

"it wasn't a dream?" She asked me quietly. "I'm not at home?"

"No Sweetie, you're at the hospital." I told her.

"You stayed?" She whimpered.

"Of course Baby." I smiled as I reached and ran a hand through her hair. "You must be hungry, my sister-in-law brought us some pancakes. Do you like pancakes?"

"I've never had them." She admitted as she looked at them. "They smell good though."

"Here, try some." I told her as I pushed the table in reach.

I watched as she carefully cut the pancakes into perfect bites, the casted arm not even seeming to cause her any difficulties, and began eating. She had impeccable manners, even as she was laying in the hospital bed. She smiled as she tasted the first bite, and I took that as confirmation that she enjoyed the food, so I began eating as well.

She only finished one of the two pancakes, but it would take some time for her to be able to eat a full meal. Right as she was finishing her juice, Ryan, her nurse, walked in.

"Hi Rosalie." He greeted quietly. "I'm Ryan, I'll be taking care of you today."

She reached for my hand and I allowed her to take it. "You're alright Sweetie, he's safe."

"She's right Rosalie. I'm not going to hurt you." Ryan promised her. "Are you feeling alright today Kiddo?"

"I feel okay." Rosalie told him softly.

"I'll be back to check on you soon then." He smiled. "Do you want anything? A puzzle or coloring book or anything?"

Rosalie looked to me, her eyes pleading with me to give her an answer. I wanted her to speak, but decided if she wasn't comfortable with that just yet, I could speak for her. "How about a coloring book and some crayons?" I offered. "And a movie or two as well?"

"Of course." Ryan agreed before leaving us alone.

"Are you afraid of Ryan?" I asked softly earning a small nod. "You don't need to be afraid of him. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Promise?" She asked me.

I sighed. That was a tough one. Was she wanting me to promise that while I was present, I wouldn't let harm come to her? That, I could promise. Was she wanting me to promise no one would ever hurt her again? I couldn't promise that as much as I wished I could.

I was saved from having to answer that question by a soft knock on the door followed by my husband walking in the room with a very, very large shopping bag.

"Rosalie, do you remember my husband Sweetheart? Carlisle? He helped fix your leg last night?" I asked softly.

"Yes." She agreed.

"You don't need to be afraid of him." I reminded her. "He's not going to harm you."

"I know." She told me confidently.

My husband smiled a little as he approached us. He put the large bag on the floor as he glanced at Rosalie's monitors and then to her. "I brought you something." He admitted.

"You brought me something?" She asked softly.

He nodded. "A present."

Rosalie crooked her head a bit, clearly confused. "A what?"

"A present." He repeated himself. "You know, like you get on your birthday and Christmas?"

"Mother and Father said my birthday wasn't worth celebrating because I'm a burden. They said I was too naughty for Santa to bring toys. He always brought me coal." She admitted as she looked down at her little hands.

I frowned. How could parents say that to their baby girl? She was an absolute angel and they didn't even give her anything on her birthday or for Christmas?

Carlisle composed himself quicker than me and moved the bag closer to Rosalie. "Well, I think you deserve presents and lots of toys so I brought you something. Would you like to see what it is?" He asked with a smile.

Rosalie hesitated for a split second before nodding. "Yes please."

Carlisle reached in the bag and pulled out three fully decked out Build-A-Bear bunny rabbits. One was white with rainbow ears, the other blue with pink and yellow, and the third was brown. The white one had on a pink dress and matching headband, rain boots, and a rain coat. The blue one had on purple and pink leggings with a white shirt and silver and purple sequin shoes. The final bunny was dressed as Belle from _Beauty and the Beast_. Rosalie's eyes lit up at the sight and a small smile crossed her face.

"A little bird told me you liked bunnies." Carlisle told her as he handed her each stuffed rabbit. "Smell their heads. The white one smells like candy, the blue smells like strawberries, and the brown smells like cotton candy."

Rosalie took a sniff of each bunny and smiled even wider. "Thank you." She told him with a huge smile.

"What are you going to name them?" He asked.

"Well this one can be Bunny" She gestured the white bunny with rainbow ears "and this one can be Rainbow." She gestured to the blue bunny.

"What about this one?" I asked about the third and final bunny.

"She looks like a princess." Rosalie told us. "Does she have a name?"

"Princess Belle" I smiled "from _Beauty and the Beast_."

"I think I'll name her that." She decided.

"Have you ever see a Disney movie?" My husband asked her.

"I'm not allowed to watch movies at home and I can never stay awake during naptime to watch them at school on Fridays." She frowned.

Right on the cue, Ryan returned with an injection in one hand, a coloring book and DVD wallet tucked under his other arm. I glanced to Rosalie, hoping she would stay calm this time. I don't know if it was because of the three new bunnies, or if it was because my husband and I were on either side of her bed, but she didn't panic as Ryan approached her.

"I brought a bunch of movies for you guys and two princess coloring books." He smiled. "Now Miss Rosalie, I need to give you some medicine to make you feel better."

"A shot?" She whimpered.

"It's alright Sweetie, it won't hurt that bad." He promised. "It'll be very fast."

"I don't want one." She admitted to me.

I gently reached and took her non-casted hand. "You're alright Baby." I assured her. "I'll let you squeeze my hand as tight as you want."

"And we can pick a movie." My husband nodded.

My husband came to stand beside me, holding open the wallet of movies as Ryan took his spot, and began cleaning Rosalie's arm. As my husband began flipping through the movies, Rosalie picked a few she liked based on the pattern on the DVDs and didn't even notice Ryan had given her the shot. We had successfully distracted her.

After Ryan left, Rosalie decided she wanted to watch _Cinderella_ first, so my husband got everything set up and I got her more comfortable and sitting up a bit more in her bed. Carlisle couldn't stay long, he had patients, but I was with Rosalie during _Cinderella_ and _Tangled_. We watched _Snow White_ during lunch, which Carlisle joined us for, followed by _Beauty and the Beast_ , _Frozen_ , _Sleeping Beauty_ , and then _Aladdin_ during dinner.

Carlisle got off his shift right after we finished _Aladdin_ and he laughed as Rosalie plead to watch another Princess movie. We had created a monster. Ryan came to say goodbye, and Megan came for shift change, and to offer to sit with Rosalie so Carlisle and I could have some time away. We didn't want anytime away though, we just wanted to stay with Rosalie.

We caved and put on _Mulan_ after Rosalie's begging didn't let up, which is when she fell soundly asleep. I gently got her in a more comfortable sleeping position, laying the bed back a bit more, and tucking the covers around her little body. Once I was sure she wouldn't wake, I flipped the TV off, and my husband broke the silence.

"I told her caseworker we wanted to be approved to foster her." He whispered.

"You talked to them?" I asked.

He nodded. "Rosalie was having such a good day; the social worker didn't want to ruin her mood by being there. She figures Rosalie associates her with hard questions."

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She thinks we have a very good chance at being approved to foster her. She also asked if we were possibly thinking of something more permanent. If we would consider adoption." He told me as he watched Rosalie sleep peacefully, bunnies tucked all around her.

"What did you tell her?" I whispered as I gently ran a hand through Rosalie's hair, caressing her cheek for a moment.

"I told her that I would have to ask you, but that I was fairly certain we were in this for the long haul. I told her we wanted to give Rosalie a family." He shrugged.

"I love you." I whispered.

"And I love you." He smiled.

"She didn't have many visitors today. None of her doctors came by." I frowned, thinking they had overlooked her.

"On my request. Nothing had changed and I didn't want them to disturb either of you." He assured me. "You two were bonding."

"Just watching movies." I disagreed. That was far from bonding.

"No, it was more than that. The way she trusts you already, the way she glances to you for reassurance, you just being with her, that was more bonding than the child had ever received. Tomorrow she'll have people rounding on her and checking on her condition, but for today, I wanted her to rest." He smiled.

"She likes you too. She's so afraid of males, but not you." I told him with a look of confusion. "Not to say I'm not happy about this, but it's a little confusing."

"Well look at it this way. She associates you as a safe person. Anyone you're around on an everyday basis, she probably assumes she can trust. Carmen, Carine, me, she'll trust us because for you. It all goes back to you though." He offered.

"She's going to be okay, right?" I asked.

"Well, it's more your profession and place to say than mine, but from what I've seen, she's resilient. She'll heal. She's been through the ringer, but she'll pull through. If her medical resilience is any indication of her emotional resilience, I'd say she'll be alright. It's going to take time, and patience. She'll need to learn the world isn't all bad. We'll have to be careful, and let her see that not all adults are going to beat her senseless, but we'll be able to help her." He assured me as he glanced at the sleeping child.

"She's got layers. I mean it took me seven weeks to even find this out. She won't give details; it'll be a while before she will fully let go of everything. She'll never forget either. She'll remember the terrible things that happened to her for the rest of her life." I sighed. "Do you think we're up for this? Do you really think we can help her?"

"Don't you?" He asked.

"I haven't been able to yet." I admitted.

"Being a doctor and being a mother are completely different things. It's like, you had all the tools to help her except one major tool. The most important tool. She didn't have a supporting home to help her heal. Now she'll have that. We'll get her another therapist too, and we'll work at it every day. We'll take it at whatever pace it needs to be taken at, but we'll help her heal. She's not beyond help. She's not beyond hope." My husband promised me as he kissed the top of my head.

"You're sure you want to do this? I know I do. I love this child, in some way I can't understand or describe, but you've only known her for a very short period of time." I frowned.

"Ever since we lost William, I've prayed the same exact prayer. I've prayed that God would give us a child, only if it would benefit us, and our marriage, and if we would be able to provide the best home that child could possibly have. I honestly, deep down, feel like Rosalie was the answer to that prayer. When I'm around her I feel…different. I've always felt protective of children, my nieces, nephews, even my patients to a certain extent, but she's different. When I'm with her, I feel like it is my personal duty make sure nothing, no one, ever causes her to be in pain again. When I'm around her, I feel this unbelievable power to love her and to care for her. If that's not telling me this child belongs with us, I don't know what else is." He admitted.

Carlisle and I didn't really talk about our faith that much. He knew I was distant, and questioning, and he didn't press it on me. He told me this part though, which meant he felt it was important enough. He felt like I needed to know this is what he felt drawn to do.

"We're going to have a daughter." I smiled.

"We're going to have a daughter." He agreed.


	6. Chapter 6: New Beginnings

Until Someone Called Me Mom

" _The guys who fear becoming fathers don't understand that fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man." –Frank Pittman_

Summary: She had never had trouble figuring out what was wrong with her patients. Esme was the best pediatric psychiatrist in the state, possibly the country, but one little girl, one adorable blonde haired little girl, had her completely stumped. What will happen when she discovers the child's secrets? Triggers: Child Abuse

AN: So here's chapter six. Chapter seven may be a while because for some reason when I began writing this story, I wrote up until chapter twelve but skipped chapter seven and I can't figure out quite what needs to go in said chapter. Anyway, enjoy. Please PLEASE review!

Chapter 6: New Beginnings

It had been ten days since Rosalie was admitted to the hospital, and today was the day we would find out if we had been approved to foster Rosalie or not. We had gone through the classes, filed all the paperwork, and we had done a home study. That was the final part, learning if the home study went through. There was no reason it shouldn't go through though. Our home was safe, and had more than enough space for a child. Our puppies were friendly, and we had redone one of the guest rooms to make the perfect little girl's room.

We had decided to paint the walls a very soft pink. The ceiling was a very light blue, with white clouds painted on it, yellow lights around the rim of the walls making a sunlight effect. There was a chandelier in the middle of the room with pink beads on it. as for the bed, that was the main thing we had done. It was a queen size bed, but the headboard was made to look like a castle, white with pink roofs. The headboard on the side had bookshelves, loaded with children's books, and on either side of the castle were fake trees made. There was a white desk, a white vanity, and a white sofa with pink pillows. A large toy chest was at the foot of the bed, and we had bought a doll house that was in one of the corners. It was truly a gorgeous bedroom. We hadn't really redone the bathroom, it was a large bathroom, mostly white, and the size of most master baths including a jet tub and a large waterfall shower. We had put pink towels in the bathroom and tons of kids' shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and so-on. The walk-in closet was fairly empty right now, just a few sets of clothing I had bought, because we wanted Rosalie to get to pick out some clothes, and figure out her exact sizes.

Today was a big day. Today would mark the day we would either be approved to foster Rosalie, or have to go through a longer process to get approved. We were hoping it would go flawlessly, and that today we would gain total approval. Rosalie's doctors had said if we were approved, they would release her to us in the next few days.

"Esme!" Rosalie smiled as I walked into her hospital room to see Carlisle reading her a story.

"Hi Sweetheart." I smiled.

I hadn't seen her since last night at dinner time. It had been Carlisle's night to stay at the hospital, and judging by the exhaustion on his face, it hadn't been a good one. The nightmares were getting worse with the less pain medication Rosalie was put on.

"Carlisle is reading me _Snow_ _White_. Do you want to read too?" She asked me hopefully.

"I think Carlisle needs to get to work so why don't I finish the story?" I smiled.

Carlisle still worked during the day. I had cut back drastically on hours, only working on the days Carlisle had off, because I couldn't stand to leave Rosalie alone. She was healing, and a big part of that was because she was spending time with my husband and I. Eleazar was covering my patients for me, to give me time to help Rosalie.

"Okay." She agreed.

My husband stood up and pecked my cheek softly. "I'll be back for lunch Princess." He told Rosalie softly.

Rosalie and I spent the morning reading stories and coloring pictures, only stopping when Carlisle came for lunch. We sat and ate some homemade macaroni and cheese Carine had stuck in the attending's lounge fridge for us. While we were eating, the social worker showed up.

"Hi Rosalie." She greeted the little girl first.

"Hi Aimee." Rosalie waved shyly.

"I'm going to borrow Carlisle and Esme for a second, okay?" Aimee offered.

Rosalie looked at us nervously but nodded. "We'll be right back." I promised her as we stepped outside with Aimee.

"Did we get approved?" My husband asked her.

"Yes." She agreed. "Which is wonderful and all, but believe it or not, that's not why I'm here."

"What is it?" I asked.

"The Hale family is going to make bail for themselves and for Royce. We're going to push for an order of protection for Rosalie." Aimee sighed.

"I don't understand. I thought you said due to their flight risk, they wouldn't be granted bail." I told her with a head shake.

"I was wrong." She shook her head. "They made it three million each. The Hale family had no problem dishing that out though."

"Do we have to tell her?" My husband asked with a frown.

"You don't have to; no. I would advise you didn't. You don't want her living in fear." Aimee told us softly.

"They can't regain custody, can they?" I asked.

"We will do everything in our power to make sure they don't get any sort of custody or even visitation with her." He promised.

We spoke with the social worker for a little while longer before making our way back to Rosalie. Carlisle and I sat and colored with her and eventually she dozed off, right as the orthopedic surgeon was coming in the room.

"We've changed our minds about the six weeks in the cast." He told us calmly.

"Has she gotten better?" Carlisle asked, a little confused. He was usually updated on anything to do with Rosalie immediately.

"No, unfortunately. She hasn't shown any improvement and we are worried about the potential for nerve damage. We would like to do the surgery today." He told us.

"Today?" I asked.

"Yes." He agreed.

"When?" My husband asked.

"The OR is booked in four hours. They'll prep her in about an hour and then they'll get her a nerve block for pain management and so-on." He told us.

After Carlisle asked about a thousand questions, the orthopedic surgeon left, and we were debating waking up Rosalie or letting her sleep. She was so tired she probably needed the nap, but we also needed to explain to her about having the surgery and doing what we could to make sure she stayed relatively calm and wasn't taken completely off-guard. We also needed to talk to her about coming home with us after she got released.

I finally, gently woke her and she scrunched up her little eyebrows tiredly. "I'm sleepy." She frowned.

"I know Darling, but we need to talk to you about a few things." I told her.

"Am I in trouble?" She whimpered.

"No Princess, not at all." Carlisle assured her.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing is wrong exactly. We have something to ask you first." I told her. "Then something to explain."

"What do you have to ask me?" She asked.

"Rosalie, when you are allowed to leave the hospital, would you like to come home with us and stay with us?" Carlisle asked.

"I could do that?" She asked, her little lips curving into a smile.

"You could." I agreed. "We talked to some people and they agreed to let you come and stay at our house with us."

"For how long?" She asked.

"We don't know exactly how long because it depends on some things, but for a long time." I told her, trying to avoid saying forever or anything that might change.

"I don't have to go home?" She asked hopefully.

"We can't for sure promise you that, but we are going to do everything we can to make sure you don't have to go back home." Carlisle assured her.

"If I don't have to go home, can I stay with you forever?" She asked us.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure you can stay with us for as long as you want." I smiled.

"Thank you." She told us as she wrapped her little arms around me.

"You're welcome Darling." I whispered as I kissed the top of her little head.

"We do have something we need to tell you." Carlisle told her after hugging her gently.

"Okay. Is it bad?" She asked.

"Not really." I told her. "You know how your arm is hurt?"

She nodded. "That's why I have a cast."

"That is why you have a cast Princess. Sometimes though, the cast isn't enough to fix an arm. They have to do something called surgery to fix it." Carlisle told her.

"Surgery." Rosalie frowned.

"I know it sounds scary Darling, but really, you'll be asleep the entire time." I told her. "Just like taking a nap."

"Will it hurt?" She whimpered.

"When you wake up, it'll probably hurt a little bit but they'll give you medicine so it won't hurt that bad." Carlisle promised her.

"We'll be with you when you wake up and we'll help take very good care of you." I promised her as I held her in my arms again.

"Okay." She whispered.

A nurse and a resident came in soon after the conversation and had her prepped for surgery, then an anesthesiologist came to talk to Rosalie about her going to sleep and asked her what flavor she wanted for her medicine to which she decided on raspberry. He also told us that we would be able to be with her while they put her under to keep her calm.

Everything went quickly and soon, we found ourselves in the "Introduction Room", holding a mask on Rosalie's little mouth for her. Her little eyes fluttered shut in no time, and we had to leave, but Carine took our place. They were going to allow her to stay with Rosalie during the surgery which comforted both of us a great deal.

My husband and I were alone to talk for the first time in a while with Rosalie in surgery. We sat in her room on the loveseat, waiting to hear news. It was then that my husband sighed and looked to me. "Esme, what if I'm not good at it?"

"What if you're not good at what?" I asked him as I held his hand.

"At being a father." He sighed. "What if…because of the kind of father I had that…what if I'm just like him?"

My husband's gentle, kind, blue eyes were threatening to release tears. I felt completely stupid. I should've thought about the fact that Rosalie's past and present would bring back bad memories for him. The thing most people didn't know was that there was a reason my husband was such a gentle, compassionate man. It had to do with what he suffered as a young boy. He and Carine had lived through hell, literally. They had gone through terrible things, and both had turned out to be wonderful, caring, compassionate people. The way my husband defied his past was one of the things I admired most of him.

"You won't be anything like your father." I promised him. "You want to know how I know?"

My husband remained silent but offered a small nod.

"Because you, Carlisle, hurt when others hurt. You hurt for people. You take on their burdens. You would never cause pain to anyone because in causing pain on them, you would cause pain on yourself. You love her Sweetheart, and she loves you too. You're exactly the kind of father she needs. You will be able to relate to her on a way I never will be. You'll be an excellent father." I squeezed his hand.

"No one should have ever treated her the way they did." He told me as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"I know." I agreed. "And no one ever will again as long as she is in our care."

"The second that her biological parents lose custody over her, I want to file for adoption. If we legally adopt her they won't be allowed near her. No one will be allowed to take her from us. She deserves the kind of life we will hopefully be able to give her." He told me.

"She deserves the kind of life we WILL give her." I told him.

It seemed like we waited for hours before the surgeon walked in. "She did great." He told us. "We placed a few plates and screws but she's going to be fine. She's in recovery right now and should be waking up in about an hour. You can go and be with her now."

Carlisle and I didn't even ask questions before getting up and going right to the recovery room where we saw Carine sitting in a rocking chair, holding a still sleeping Rosalie.

"Hey." She greeted us as we approached. "She did wonderfully."

"Thank you for staying with her." Carlisle told his sister as he knelt down and looked at Rosalie's little face and smiled. "She almost looks like a little angel when she sleeps."

"She truly is a beautiful child." Carine told us.

I watched as Carine passed Rosalie off to Carlisle and he took her seat in the rocking chair, Rosalie's head resting on his chest, her casted arm, which was a pink glitter cast, propped up on his shoulder. It was such a beautiful sight to see my husband holding the little girl I cared so much about, I couldn't help the tears that fell down my cheeks.

"Is there anything either of you need?" Carine asked me.

"I think we're alright." I told her.

"I was going to go and get her at least a few sets of pajamas and clothes. I overheard her doctors talking about her being allowed to leave the hospital in the coming days and you two will have your hands full, probably not thinking of shopping." She told us.

"That would be great." I admitted.

"I'll take Carmen along and the girls. I'm guessing she's about a 3T or 4T based on her size." She told us. "Did you ever notice what size her school clothes were?"

"3T. I think her shoes were a 9." I told her.

Carine stuck around for a little while longer before leaving, and I found myself at my husband's side, hand resting on Rosalie's back. As much as I wanted to be holding her, I thought Carlisle should be able to do so, especially given the conversation we had just had and his worries of being what she needed.

Rosalie's eyes fluttered open and she looked at the two of us before smiling a little. "Hello Darling, how do you feel?" I asked.

"Funny." She admitted.

I smiled. The drugs in her system would keep her out of pain, but a little humorous, for a while. "Funny, huh?" Carlisle asked her.

"There's a pink unicorn on that bed." She agreed.

I glanced over and didn't see anything even resembling a unicorn in the room anywhere and couldn't help my laugh. The rest of the evening was spent with many laughs as the anesthesia wore off and soon enough, Rosalie had fallen asleep, still in Carlisle's arms, but in the rocking chair in her hospital room this time.

"I'm staying tonight." Carlisle told me.

"I am too." I agreed.

"You should get some rest." He disagreed. "And check on the puppies."

"Please call me if anything happens." I sighed.

"Don't worry, I will." He promised.

So not completely sure if I was okay with the idea, I headed home and took a much needed bubble bath before getting in my bed with the two cuddly puppies and finally, falling asleep.


End file.
